Ostensibly, about the Republican Party quietly declaring war on itself, this Matt Taibbi piece in Rolling Stone does a great job explaining the origins and impact of GOP’s two decades of failed governance and dumbed-down politics. First the GOP’s war on the GOP:

The news came in the Wall Street Journal, where the Chamber of Commerce disclosed that it will be teaming up with Republican establishment leaders to spend $50 million in an effort to stem the tide of “fools” who have overwhelmed Republican ballots in recent seasons. Check out the language Chamber strategist Scott Reed used in announcing the new campaign:

Our No. 1 focus is to make sure, when it comes to the Senate, that we have no loser candidates… That will be our mantra: No fools on our ticket.

But read the whole thing, because I’ve never heard the Rove year’s explained more precisely.

The whole Bush presidency, in the minds of Rove and his followers, was a goof on political advisers who were so self-serious that they actually believed themselves to be shackled to the truth, the responsibility of governing, etc. Rove and his crew openly laughed at the idea that they had to be consistent, or make sense, or do the right thing. Remember their naked mocking of the “reality-based community,” and the boasting about how “we create our own reality”? Who did we think they were supposed to be, boy scouts? This was Washington! They were about winning, not governing.